Apparatus for the manufacture of incandescent mantles.



E, L. KNOEDLER.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INCANDESCENT MANTLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30. 1913.

1.,l5?,55. Patented 001. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' INVENTOR WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANouuAPH C0,, WASHINGTON, D. c.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. KMUSQM, A M MW(QMUM&Q,

E. L. KNOEDLER. APPARATUS FOR THE'MANUFAGTURE 0F INCANDESCENT MANTLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 30. 1913.

WITNESSES coLuMiaxA PLANOGRAFU 60., WASHING ON. D. c.

E. L. KNOEDLER.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INGANDESCENT MANTLES. APPLICATION FILEDSEPT. 30, 1913.

1,157,555, Patented ott. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

oooqooon 000 O 0000 000 O O 000 000 O 0000 0000 0000 000 00000 00000000INVENTOR V kdmmtm. W &. 1(5 M a Qu m) WITNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGR/U'HC0..\VASH1NOTON. D. :4

E. L. KNOEDLER.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF INCANDESCENT MANTLES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-30,1913.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- COLUMBIA PLANGORAPH c0, WASHINGTON, D c,

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Em/inn L. KNOEDL'ER'OF enoucnsrnn CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 WELSBACHLIGHT COMPANY, or GLOUCESTER CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION or NEWJERSEY.

Application filed September30, 1913.

T0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ELMER L. KNOEDLER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Gloucester City, Camdencounty, State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement.in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Incandescent Mantles, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhich.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2is a side view of a portion of the machine on a larger scale; Fig. 3 isa partial transverse section of the machine taken adjacent to themufiles; Fig. 4 is a detail view partly in vertical section and partlyin side elevation, and show ing means for effecting a stepby-stepmovement of the carrier; Fig. 5 is a section on the line V-V of Fig. 4;Fig. ,6 is a vertical section of one of the mufiles and also showing itssupport; Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sectional views taken at right anglesto each other and showing the means for effecting dipping of themantles.

My invention has relation to apparatus for the manufacture ofincandescent gas mantles and more particularly to apparatus foreffecting the preliminary burning, the hardening and shaping and thedipping of the formed mantles. It also relates more particularly toapparatus of this character in which the hardening and finishing iseffected in muflles of the character described and claimed in mycopending application Serial No. 749,655, filed February 20, 1913.-

These mufli'es are adapted to receive and contain the mantle during thehardening operation, and they are so constructed, as more fullydescribed in said application, as to regulate the escape of the productsof com bustion from the hardening burners in such a manner as to formbetween the inner wall of the muflle and the mantle a resistant cushionof the 7 products of combustion.

especially to provide a machine or apparatus which is wholly automaticin its char- Speeification of Letters Patent.

Patented (lot. 19, 1915,

Serial No. 792,583.

acter; that is, in which after the mantles are once on the machine, theyare automatically moved from the preliminary burning station to thehardening and shaping station, and'from the hardening and shapingstation to the dipping and drying stations. The invention provides amachine or apparatus of this character by means of which a large numberof mantles may be simul taneously operated upon in a highly efficientand economical manner.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

in which I have illustrated one form of machine o'r apparatus forcarrying out my invention, the numeral 2 designates an endless carrierwhich may be, in general, of any' suitable construction and which iscarried by the wheels 3 at opposite ends of the machine. In thedrawings, I have shown this carrier as having a series of travelingwheels 5, which travel on tracks 6, carried on the frame of the machine.This carrier is provided with a plurality of pins or studs 7 forengagement with mantle-supporting trays 8. These trays consist of asuitable frame adapted to extend transversely from one side member of acarrier to the other, and having suitable holes at its end portions forengagement with the pins or studs 7. Each tray has seats for removablemantle supports 9, ofthe form best shown in Fig;

8, the support consisting of a ring adaptedto rest loosely on one oftheseats 10 of the carrier and to engage the mantle by its usualsupporting legs 11.

The carrier 2 is given a step-by-step movement by means of suitablegearing. In the machine shown, there is a longitudinal main shaft 12,driven by a pulley 13, and carrying a worm 14, which meshes with anddrives'a' worm wheel 15. The shaft of this worm wheel has fixed theretoa cam 16 (see Fig. 4) which is adapted for contact with a roller 17 on alever 18, pivoted at its lower end to the frame at 19. The upper endportion of this lever is connected by a link 20 with a reciprocatingmember 21. The mem ber 21 is mounted for reciprocation on a suitableguide 22, fixed to the frame of the machine (see Fig. 5). Pivoted to themember 21 at each side is a dog or pawl 23. These pawls are normallypressed upwardly by means of springs 24:,into a position to engage, uponforward movement of the member 21, with the projecting ends of the pinswhich connect the links of the carrier chains. l/Vhile in the drawing Ihave only shown a reciprocating member 21 in connection with one of thecarrier chains, a similar device 1s provided in connection with each ofthem, the worm-wheel shaft having tions, after the high portions of thecams have ceased to contact with the levers 18.

. During this backward movement, the pawls 23 are inactive.

' The numeral'l27 designates the burners for effecting the preliminaryburning of the mantles, and 28and 29 the gas and air supplypipes,respectively, for supplying these burners.

, 3O designates the mulfles, in which the hardening and shaping takesplace. shown in detail in Fig. 6, these mufiles have open tops andclosed perforated side and bottom walls, the combined area of theperforations and their arrangement being such as topermit of the escapeof a portion of the products of combustion, but to retain therein asufficient quantity of the gases to form a separating cushion betweenthe movable frame oryoke 31, see Fig. 3. This mantles and the walls ofthe muflies. A series of these mufiies is mounted transverselyunderneath the path of the upperportionof the carrier-2 a short distancebeyond the burners27. They arecarried on a vertically frame or yoke 81is mounted for vertical reciprocation in suitableguides 32, so that theycan be moved upwardly in a position to cause the muflies to, envelop theseries of mantles on one of the trays, while the hardening and shapingis taking place, and to be lowered away from the mantles after thisoperation is completed. For th s purpose,

I have shown the shaft 12' as provided with Fee a worm '33, meshing withthe worm wheel 34,.on the transverse shaft 35. Secured to this shaft isa cam 36, which contacts with a roller 37 on the frame. or yoke 31.Thisis best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. IVhile the roller 37 is on the highportion of the cam, the frame or yoke 31 will be held in raisedposition, but is lowered when the roller 37 passes on to the low portionof the cam.

' The numeral 38 designates the hardening burners, 39 the gas supplyhead for the se ries of burners, and 40 the air supply head.

41 designates the main gas supply pipe for the head 39, and 42 indicatesa pilot light supply connection.

In order to secure uniformity in the hardening and shaping action, it isdesirable that the gas and air supply for the burners 38 shall beuniform so that the same action will occur at each burner. It is alsodesirable that the regulation of the gas and air supply shall beindependent of the operator and shall be automatically effected so thatthe supply may be correct at all times. For this purpose, the shaft 12is provided with a third worm 43, which drives a worm gear 44 on atransverse shaft 45. Secured to the shaft 45 is a cam 46, which contactswith a roller 47, carried by a lever 48, which is attached to the stemof a valve 49, which controls the supply of gas passing through the pipe41. The lever 48 is weighted, as shown at 50. While the roller 47 isengaged by the high portion of the cam 46, the valve will be held opento the proper extent, but as soon as the roller 47 passes under the lowportion of the cam, said valve is closed by the action of the weight 50.The air supply pipe at the opposite side of the machine may have asimilar valve, actuated by another SlIIllIZLlCflIH on the shaft 45.

After the mantles have been hardened and shaped in the mufiles, they aregiven the usual dipping in a bath of collodion. For this purpose, Iprovide the transversely arranged tank 51, which contains the collodionsolution and which is mounted to be raised and lowered relatively to thecarrier 2, so as to immerse the series of mantles in the bath and thenwithdraw them therefrom. The tank 51 is mounted upon the verticallymovable support 52 (see Figs. 1, 7 and 8) and is actuated by means of acam 53 on a shaft 54. The shaft 54 carries a worm wheel 55, meshing witha fourth worm 56 on the main shaft 12. After. being collodionized andgiven an opportunity to drain, the series of mantles pass into asuitable drying box 57, which may be heated by means of steam pipes 58or in any other suitable manner.

The operation of the machine will be readily understood from theforegoing. The operator places a series of mantles on one of the trays.This tray is then placed upon the carrier 2 and is carried forward tothe preliminary burning station where the movement of the carrier ishalted long enough to enable this preliminary burning operation to takeplace. IVhile this is being done, the mantles on a preceding tray arebeing hardened and finished in the muflles, on another preceding traythey are being collodionized, and on still. other preceding trays theyare being drained and dried. In this manner, each tray with a series ofmantles is successively moved from one station to another, the operationbeing entirely independent of manual interference from the time the trayis placed upon the carrier to the time it is removed after passing outof the drying box or oven. The various controlling cams are, of course,so set relatively to each other as to cause the operations which theyeffect to be properly timed.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent since it provides averysimple machineby means of which a large number of mantles may besimultaneously operated upon. The operation of the machine beingautomatic, a highly uniform product is obtained, since each mantle istreated under precisely the same conditions and for like periods oftime. The hardening and shaping in the muffles or crucibles also gives avery highly uniform character to the mantles.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made in the details ofconstruction and arrangement of the parts. Thus, any suitable trays orracks for holding the mantles may be employed; the details of thecarrier may be changed; the actuating gearing may be of any suitablecharacter; instead of using separate air and gas supply pipes, pressuregas may be employed; and various other changes may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in theappended claims.

The features of the apparatus herein shown and described, but notclaimed, form the subject matter of my copending application, Serial No.792,582, filed September.

1 claim:

1. Apparatus for the manufacture of mantles, comprising a travelingcarrier, a plurality of burners above the carrier, a plurality ofmuflles below the carrier, a separate vertically movable support on thecarrier for each mantle to be treated, and means for raising eachmufi'le into contact with a support on the carrier to thereby raise themantle to the action of a burner, the muffles having means whichcooperate with said supports to center and carry them' when so raised,substantially as described.

2. Apparatus for the manufacture of mantles, comprising parallel carrierchains having rollers, tracks for said rollers and forming supports forsaid chains, a plurality of transverse mantle carrying bars connectingthe chains, and each having a plurality of seats for mantle supports,and

'rality of transverse mantle carrying bars connecting the chains andeach having a plurality of seats for mantle supports, mantle supportsarranged to be loosely mounted in said seats, a plurality of verticallymovable muflles below the transverse mantle carrying bars, and means forraising said muflles around the mantles and into lifting engagement withthe mantle sup ports, substantially as described.

l. In apparatus for manufacturing mantles, the combination with parallelcarrier chains, tracks for supporting said chains, transverse mantlecarrying bars connecting the chains, and means forimparting a step bystep movement to said chains comprising reciprocating gripping deviceshaving means for engaging and moving the chains at intervals in onedirection, substantially as described.

5. Apparatus for hardening and shaping mantles, comprising parallelcarrier chains, means for imparting a step by step movement to saidchains, a plurality of transverse mantle carriers having means fordetachably engaging the chains, each of said carriers having seats for aplurality of separate mantle supports, together with a plurality ofvertically movable muffies, and means for raising said muffles intolifting engagement with the mantle supports, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

7 ELMER L. KNOEDLER. Witnesses:

J. H. JoI-INsoN, L. F. BoMHorr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C."

